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Tett's son William demands adoption files

Thursday February 11 2016

In Summary

Mr William is serving a life sentence at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison for robbing his foster father at gunpoint in Karen.

Mr William says he was adopted without proper documentation and that the Tetts did not raise him up well.

He was convicted of stealing his father's wallet containing Sh1,000, an ATM card, a Visa card, an identity card, two medical cards, three supermarket smart cards and a mobile phone all valued at Sh157,000.

Former assistant minister Betty Tett’s enstranged foster son wants the court to order his adoption records produced.

David William is serving a life sentence at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison for robbing his foster father, Mr William Mulready Tett, at gunpoint on September 6, 2011 at their Karen home.

He wants his foster parents, his previous abode — Mama Fatuma Goodwill Children’s Home — and the British High Commission to produce documents or records showing how he was adopted.

He is demanding to know how he came out of the home “without any proper documentation” only to find himself adopted by the Tetts, whom he says did not raise him well and got rid of him by having him jailed.

“This court has the jurisdiction over all claims for relief requested...under the Constitution,” William says in the suit papers.

He also wants the State to direct the Deputy Registrar of the High Court’s criminal division to appoint a lawyer to present his appeal.

“I ask this honourable court to appoint an advocate to prosecute my appeal. I am in prison and I cannot afford the legal fees,” William says.

William seeks to overturn the sentence handed down to him because “the judge relied on contradictory and inconsistence evidence” that he robbed his foster father.

He says the court was wrong in upholding testimonies of witnesses who were not credible and disregarded defence evidence that was acceptable and verifiable.

ROBBERY CHARGES

William was accused of violently robbing his father while armed with a revolver and a knife.

He was convicted of stealing Mr Mulready’s wallet containing Sh1,000, an ATM card, a Visa card, an identity card, two medical cards, three supermarket smart cards and a mobile phone all valued at Sh157,000.

He faced two additional charges of violently robbing the Tetts’ domestic workers.

The court was told that William robbed Ms Christine Nyambura of a mobile phone valued at Sh5,000 and Mr David Ondengo of a Sh9,000 handset.

Two gangsters were shot dead by police who responded to the alarm raised by Ms Tett’s employee.

Five mobile phones, a revolver loaded with four bullets and a knife were found at the robbery scene.

The court was told that on the fateful day, William called his foster father to the living room, where Mr Mulready found his son in the company of two men.

One of the men pointed a revolver at his head while the other threatened him with a knife.

They demanded money and threatened to kill him. Later, they tied him up and took away the items.

By coincidence, Ms Tett called her husband on his phone and when she could not reach him, asked Mr Ondengo to check on Mr Mulready.

Mr Ondengo, the prosecutor said, stumbled on the ongoing robbery and raised alarm.

William maintained that he was a victim of circumstances as he had been carjacked by the two men who ordered him to drive to his parents’ home.

In 2013, a magistrate court ruled that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that William committed the crime and sentenced him to life imprisonment.